The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to a shear guide for a terminal crimping machine.
Magnet wires are used to form coil windings for a variety of electrical devices. When energized, the coil windings generate magnetic fields and electromagnetic forces to drive, for example, a rotor of an electric motor. When the magnet wire is installed into a stator structure of the motor, the windings cause the rotor to rotate when the stator windings are energized. To supply power to the windings, power splice terminals are sometimes employed to couple a power lead wire to the magnet wires.
One type of power splice terminal includes an open barrel terminal which accepts a lead wire or lead wires as well as one or more magnet wires used in the coil windings. When the lead wires and the magnet wires are loaded into the open barrel, the terminal is crimped or bent to secure the wires to the terminal. The crimp barrel includes serrations formed therein which pierce the insulation of the magnet wires to establish electrical connection to the terminal when the terminal is crimped. Electrical connections of the lead wires and the magnet wires through the terminal are therefore established.
Loading the wires into the terminal, however, is problematic. For instance, the magnet wires must be positioned along the bottom of the open barrel terminal to engage the serrations. Positioning the magnet wires efficiently and correctly relative to the terminal and the lead wires can be challenging. Ensuring that the positions of the wires remain unchanged during the crimping process is also problematic. If the magnet wires are not positioned properly, the electrical connection through the terminal may be compromised, and the associated electrical device may not function properly.
A need remains for a device that holds the positions of the wires within the splice terminal during the crimping process.